You're pretty familiar with how I stand and my beliefs on the game. In my opinion the most valuable paintballers on the planet are new players. These are the guys that are going to keep our sport alive going into the future and the V-Max is a perfect hopper for a new player. Its stats are impressive and its very reasonably priced. But unfortunately they have not been even close to reliable so what this means is new players are not happy. Mad new players = less new players.

Its no different than over charging at fields or price gouging simply because you can.

You're pretty familiar with how I stand and my beliefs on the game. In my opinion the most valuable paintballers on the planet are new players. These are the guys that are going to keep our sport alive going into the future and the V-Max is a perfect hopper for a new player. Its stats are impressive and its very reasonably priced. But unfortunately they have not been even close to reliable so what this means is new players are not happy. Mad new players = less new players.

Its no different than over charging at fields or price gouging simply because you can.

The one thing to keep in mind is that the fix, while annoying, is relatively simple and cheap. If you have problems with it, don't just toss it or sell it cheap. I repair them for $5 plus the cost of shipping and Valken should be offering updated motor cases soon for free as a replacement.

The one thing to keep in mind is that the fix, while annoying, is relatively simple and cheap. If you have problems with it, don't just toss it or sell it cheap. I repair them for $5 plus the cost of shipping and Valken should be offering updated motor cases soon for free as a replacement.

I would love to hear more on the one you modded with an upgreade gear/motor....Might just pay you too for all the hard work. you have to make some money for all the help and work. Thank you for the video too, so far I am very lucky with my current one...however, the used one I got as a back up has not be tested yet.

I've actually modded about 2 dozen of them now. No call backs or reported failures. One of them was a test mule in which I used a completely different gear set with a slower final drive speed. I did it because nobody needs 30bps, and even with the slower speed it fed over 20 consistently. The biggest benefit to it is that there is far less lag when coming off break. Instead of needing a second or two to catch up, it responds almost instantly. Lower gearing = more torque = faster initial acceleration. Like putting low gears in a car.

My team captain offered me a NIB V-Max for $50. I'm not sure I want it after reading this and another few threads. $50 is pretty easy for me to swallow though (way easier than a Spire for $160) and I'd love to replace my old Vlocity (utterly reliable and feeds what I need, but tall and prone to being hit and a royal pain to clean)

Like Tempted, I am a little more mechanically inclined than the average and also like Tempted I have crap-loads of old servos laying around. Do I really want to purchase a hopper that I have to immediately modify to make it feed the 12.5 bps I usually run my Axe at?? I sure don't need a feed rate up in the 20's (who does??) but it has to keep up with a strong-running Axe that constantly spews ropes.

Tempted are you still working with these? It looks to me like you know how to make them perform like they should. Would it be worth it to pick up a cheap V-Max and immediately flip it to you for the "Tempt-treatment"? What kind of turnaround time am I looking at??

EDIT: After watching the "failure" video and the "repair" video, it makes perfect sense. That is an easy fix for me. Looks like the brass gears out of one of the many dead TowerPros I have on hand might be all a V-Max needs (good thing I'm a pack-rat that seldom throws things out that may be handy for fixing something else) Modding or making thicker pins to fit if needed is also a no-brainer.

I'll be picking up a new V-Max this week, we'll see how it looks when I disassemble it. Thanks for the videos Tempted, they made my decision easy and made it possible for me to replace my old Vlocity for much less $$ than I anticipated...

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Don't count me out until you see the box being lowered into the hole...

It isn't very hard at all. If you want, sure send it this way but my bet is that you can get it going yourself. Be careful with the servos you have, most standard RC servos are geared down a lot when compared to a standard gear motor. But if you have a high speed servo laying around, use it. I love the V-Max. Incredibly light and when working properly plenty fast. Plus they are cheap.

Also forgot to mention when you make your new dowel pin just use one of the screws out of the old servo case you are taking apart. The servo case screws are a tiny bit thicker than the V-Max dowel pin so if the hole isn't too severely damaged you won't need to re-drill it, you can just force the pin you made from the screw into the existing hole. Make sure and use only the straight shank of the screw and not the threads. Also be sure to smooth both side of the screw because it rides on the top of the pinion gear.

I have a V-Max as a back up and unfortunately I cant even use it as a back up. Batteries constantly drain, will barely feed 10 bps, and sometimes during mid ramping or even on semi my gun will stop shooting because the V-max has stopped feeding.. This is V-Max #2 that I have owned that has been worthless. Not impressed at all

I also located the parasitic battery drain. Its in the sensor board. Even with the power off the sensor board is getting a regulated 5v meaning energy is being lost in the resistors as they are reducing it from 18v at all time.

I'm used to taking the batteries out of my old Vlocity so they don't drain. It's actually 10 times easier to take the batteries out of the V-Max no problem there.

I went out to my captain's place and picked up the V-Max. I've got a few initial impressions.

I brought my Axe and a tank and gave it a little test-run with some old G.I. Sports paint he had on hand. Just pulled it out of the box, loaded up a pair of 9-volts and started testing. No modification at all.

Just dumping back into a caddy, the V-Max didn't hesitate. It would empty itself no problem. I clamped it on my Axe and filled it up. It runs balls right down the feedneck automatically and is just about instantly ready to feed. No "priming" or anything needed. Running the hopper completely dry, then topping it off required no other action. It loads itself pretty much instantly and is ready to fire.

Firing my Axe at 12.5 bps ramping (what we are usually capped at in most tournaments around here) the V-Max seemed very capable of keeping up right out of the box with a fresh pair of Duracells. I had a couple "hiccups" but nothing that really made me raise an eyebrow. I proceeded to paint the crap out of my friends back fence to get rid of half a case of old paint without any problems from anything. If the V-Max runs like this all the time it will have no problem keeping up with normal play.

Back at my own place, I did another little test. Timing 560 balls (4 pods) through the V-Max into a caddy took a pretty consistent 26.7 - 26.8 seconds (4 tries) So - 560 divided by 27 = 20.76 - someone who is better at math than me will have to say whether this is a proper bps measurement or not I'll tell you this much - I'm hustling to keep up with the V-Max during this test.

I'm not too sure how to think at this point. Seems to me that the V-Max is a pretty damned decent hopper for the price right out of the box. I'm sort of inclined to use it as-is the next time I play (the 18th) and see if it cuts the mustard. I'm thinking it will not have a problem after what I've seen tonight.

And combined with a new Custom Products no-rise Ion feedneck, it considerably lowers my profile compared to the big ol' Vlocity...

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Don't count me out until you see the box being lowered into the hole...

I have a V-Max as a back up and unfortunately I cant even use it as a back up. Batteries constantly drain, will barely feed 10 bps, and sometimes during mid ramping or even on semi my gun will stop shooting because the V-max has stopped feeding.. This is V-Max #2 that I have owned that has been worthless. Not impressed at all

Hmm..Odd for I have two and they have no issues at all during PSP ramping or full auto. Does drain batteries, but just flip them over in the hopper when done. Now I am able to get at least 5 full days of paintball with them (11am to 5pm)

Hmm..Odd for I have two and they have no issues at all during PSP ramping or full auto. Does drain batteries, but just flip them over in the hopper when done. Now I am able to get at least 5 full days of paintball with them (11am to 5pm)

These hoppers seem to be very hit and miss. I pulled the motor assembly out of mine on Saturday and turned the motor by hand and I can distinctly hear the gears grinding inside of it.

These hoppers seem to be very hit and miss. I pulled the motor assembly out of mine on Saturday and turned the motor by hand and I can distinctly hear the gears grinding inside of it.

I figured that's what we are dealing with here, a product spec'ed with sub-par Chinese gearboxes (hence the ability to hit the market at a very attractive pricepoint. It backfires on you sometimes though... ) The Chinese have a pretty vague grasp of the meaning of "tolerances" and they're willing to shrug shoulders and say "good enough" long before most of us here in the States, they just do not care.

If you can feel/hear skipping in the gearbox when you try to turn the impeller by hand (I can't on mine) I'd say your gear shafts are wobbling bad enough to let the gears come out of alignment. The videos farther back in this thread explain it all in detail...

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Don't count me out until you see the box being lowered into the hole...

I figured that's what we are dealing with here, a product spec'ed with sub-par Chinese gearboxes (hence the ability to hit the market at a very attractive pricepoint. It backfires on you sometimes though... ) The Chinese have a pretty vague grasp of the meaning of "tolerances" and they're willing to shrug shoulders and say "good enough" long before most of us here in the States, they just do not care.

If you can feel/hear skipping in the gearbox when you try to turn the impeller by hand (I can't on mine) I'd say your gear shafts are wobbling bad enough to let the gears come out of alignment. The videos farther back in this thread explain it all in detail...

I have watched all those videos, however the problem I have is I don't like fixing other people's screw ups. I have not contacted Valken about this yet but I will in the next few days. Its just annoying that you buy something and the **** dont work right.

I have watched all those videos, however the problem I have is I don't like fixing other people's screw ups. I have not contacted Valken about this yet but I will in the next few days. Its just annoying that you buy something and the **** dont work right.

I'm with you there, 100%

So I played on the 18th. Local 3-man tournament. No problems at all from the V-Max it fed like a champ all day. So far so good...

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Don't count me out until you see the box being lowered into the hole...